Severe itching after showering

I've had this issue for a year or two (I'm 28), before that I've never had any problems with my skin, not even dry skin, so it's been quite frustrating. I thought it was dry skin so I tried lotion, but I hate the feel of lotion and 50% of the time it makes the itching worse, and 50% of the time it makes my skin burn. I've even tried all-natural, hypoalergenic, fragrance-free lotion (and body wash)...it still burned. I've tried every body wash on the market (thinking it was just dry skin or an allergy) but again found that nothing helped. I get it when I try to sleep even though I have have expensive 100% egyptian cotton sheets. For a while I thought some bug was biting me because getting dressed and getting in bed seemed to make it worse...I thought the cat brought some bug in. I've also used the same detergent ... my entire life, nothing's changed, just my skin's changed I guess. Cutting out wheat is also hard because I'm a vegetarian (10 years), so I wouldn't have much left to eat if I couldn't eat wheat.



I looked up Aquagenic Pruritus: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquagenic_pruritus and Polycythemia Vera: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polycythemia_vera and although Aquagenic Pruritus seems to be the lesser of two evils, they both have a symptom of itching after exposure to warm water...and apparently the other is hard to diagnose, even if you're a doctor.



I've found that the liquid "Cortizone 10 Easy Relief Applicator" always helps for spot treatment, sometimes after two applications though, but that always has the added threat of weight gain from the cortizone so I hate using it.



Here are treatments copied from Wikipedia:







If anyone's found anything else that helps, aside from tanning (I don't care to trade in itching for skin cancer) and HOT water (it makes it worse for me), I'd love to hear it. The BRAND of any helpful product(s) would also be useful...all lotions and anti-histamines are not created equal.



Thanks & good luck!

Hello fellow ichys.

I just wanted to share a few things with you guys as well.

This has been happening to both me and my sister for about the last 5 or 10 years, and every year it seems to get worse and worse. I feel that the definition of Aquagenic Pruritus on wikipedia best explains our condition. Ours only comes during the Fall and Winter, and it just vanishes in the Spring and Summer. We have always lived in Tennessee, so we do see a fairly dramatic change in weather. This summer it was 90+ for like 40 days, and last winter it was cold enough to play pond hockey.

And maybe I'm wrong, but I think once it gets to the dead of Winter, we are fine. It mostly affects us during the change in climate. This season I will try and and keep a better log of when I get the itch, and when it stops. I think everyone here should try and keep a log of when these outbreaks occur, and the situations around the time of it occuring, IE hot/cold shower, soap/no soap, outside temp, humidity level, length of shower, hot/cold bathroom after getting out of shower, etc.

I feel like mine are starting to come right now, in very small occurrences, which would support the change in weather theory. The temperature/humidity levels are starting to change here in Tennessee now.

One thing I have read are the sweat glad theories. Those seems totally probable, but don't really seem to match up with me. I play ice hockey, and I never seem to get this type of problem during or after I play. I would like some more info on this idea though.

One last thing, what about experts in this field? Do we know of any Doctors that might specialize in Aquagenic Pruritus? If so, I would love to get some contact information so I could possibly visit them. I love going on trips, and this would be a great excuse.

Thanks for everyone posting here. I know that this has been a huge help for my sister and I, just knowing that others can comprehend what we have to go through. At least we had each other, I can't imagine what it was like for so many of you before you found this out.

Best wishes to everyone.

I am 22 years old, and have had the unbearable itching after showers for a 3 or 4 years now. I find it so interesting that everyone thinks they are 'crazy'! I did too, since there are literally no rashes or anything to show that something is happening!!

Like Taelor, it only occurs during the hot months and completely vanishes during the fall and winter. It only happens during the Summer, mainly July/August/September (the hottest time in Maryland). Which makes me forget that I even have this condition since it only appears 2 or 3 months out of the year.

Some people in this forum have concluded that heat helps. I, however, disagree. I think the heat makes it worse! I will take cold showers whenever possible (the cold water is also unbearable, not as much though). Whenever I shave my legs, the itching is 10 times worse than with just a normal shower. It must have something to do with the heat (opening the pours up) of some sort.

I asked my pediatrican about it, she just said to try cold showers, lotioning, and using hypoallergenic soap. I use the same soap year round and lotion the same amount of time all year. There is no correlation to me except for the hot weather! I also do not use bar soap on my legs, which is where the itch mainly is. She also prescribed me an allergy medicine which had no effect.

I will try all the lotions, OTC allergy pills, more cold showers, and not shaving! Best of luck to everyone... and I would love to hear someone's results.

I have read each and every one of the posts on this page. My husband thought I was so crazy to read them all, but I really wanted to see how others are affected by this. I have had the itching after shower/sweating for many years now, I am 32 and can definitely say it's been since I was about 20, maybe earlier. It has come and gone, but certainly appears in warmer and humid temps. I have found the itching begins while I am in the shower sometimes, and doesn't end til about 30 mins after. I will sometimes jog, and honestly not want to shower until the next morning, only because I know what will happen once I begin to shower, then the itching will begin due to the sweat, that I figure showering will make me clean, even if it also means itching. I used to scratch myself years ago when it started. I know the damage I do to my skin, and the fact that it doesn't help, so I do everything in my power to avoid scratching. I would scratch to the point of breaking acrylic nails off. I left my skin with red welts. The itching feels like pins stabbing in every one of my pores. It caused involuntary flinches at times. I never said anything to anyone about this until last year, and only now typed it in to the computer. An allergist told me last year that I had dermagraphia, or "skin writing" because I explained to him that I would scratch and itch more and more. I also described the red marks I left behind. I researched dermagraphia, but was never convinced that was all I had. Just tonight, after jogging, showering, and wishing I never jogged in the first place because I was itching so bad, did I type "itch after shower" into Yahoo and find this website. I feel so relieved, sorry to say, that I am not the only person who suffers from this, and to know that there are MANY of us who do. Aquagenic pruritus definitely sounds like a medical term for what I/we have... but "insanely itchy, prickly feeling skin that brings me to tears, and makes me mad" is what I call it. So frustrating, and no one except us understands the feeling at all!!!

Since my last post I'm no better off, in fact I'm worse off.

I have joined a gym so now instead of one shower a week (the rest of the time I hand wash) I now have at least 3!
It's agony.

Well sort of - I have changed the water (showering at the club) tried no products (just water), tried hot, cold, buffing and AH tablets.

Still the same for most of the time.

Buffing may help a little, as may tablets - but taking them makes me drowsier.


I wonder what the docs response will be if I ever get around to seeing them about it.

Hey...I've been reading through all these messages and have been eager to find out the results of having tried out some peoples' suggestions. It seems people say they are going to try certain things but don't report their results. I also itch horrendously after showering...and when I sweat my torso itches like hell.
I for one am going to begin with excluding wheat from my diet and see what happens...and will report back here...so watch this space!
Trina

Let me tell you all that I've been suffering from severe itching after showering. It all started in my legs and went thoughout my body. I have made my own researching before going to the Dr. and also I have put things together to remember what things I changed in my eating, personal hygiene etc for this to occur...I have not done anything different but I'd traveled to Central America last month. Bingo! after reasearching I found that my symptoms matched the "RIVER BLINDNESS DISEASE"; yes, this infectious disease is cause by a parasite and is transmitted to humans through the bite of a black fly. Also, these flights can place the larvae in flowing river water once in the water the larvae can stay alive for up to 2 weeks ready to infect a human being! this parasite can live in your system for up to 14 years!!! alarming but true...is called the "RIVER BLINDNESS DISEASE" because the flights that trasmit this parasite undergo near rivers and the disease will cause BLINDNESS if not treated timely. Hope this helps.

First off I'm a 25 year old male. I started to experience this about a year, maybe two years ago. I lived with my parents at the time, who had well water. I was also diagnosed with eczema (rashes related to allergies) around the same time, but never asked the dermatologist about the itch after showering. I thought they were related, and since my dermatologist told me that taking hot showers could make the eczema worse, I started to take "warm" showers. I love hot showers, thus my warm showers were still kinda hot. I slowly gave in and cooled down the shower more and more, still warm, but not exactly enjoyable. I was also told to use a liquid soap and to use lotion if my skin started to get dry. If needed I could use the prescription gel, which eliminated the rashes in about a week. Needless to say, I was still itching after showers, even if I used my prescription anti-itch cream. All over my upper body, and sometimes my legs, it was unbearable for about 30 mins. I read post like these and saw that perhaps the soap could be my problem. I switched soaps, switched laundry detergent, tried almost everything that made sense in the posts. I started to think, maybe it was my parents water. I have since moved into my own house and still have the problem with city water. Then I started to think. One post I read said that an additive in the soap that makes it lather easier can be an irritant. So how can I avoid this irritant? After reading all the bottles of soap at the store, I was depressed to learn, avoiding it was nearly impossible, at least financially impossible. So what else could I do? If I get out of the shower and then I start to itch, I guess the soap is still on my skin. Whats the best way to get soap off skin? HOT WATER. This is contrary to my dermatologist suggestions for my eczema and probably contrary to anything a dermatologist would ever say, but trust me, it worked. I know take my enjoyable hot shower, try to wash the soap off right after I get done with each body part, and I haven't itched in a few months. When this started for me, I was willing to try anything, and most of these posts offered no suggestions that worked. Some gave random disease names and descriptions that would convince anyone they have that disease. But most were people like you and me how we being driven absolutely crazy and looking for an answer as to what was wrong with us. So to all those people out there looking for a solution, try taking a hot shower like I described. I'm not at all promising it will work, but if you have whatever I have, I think it will save your sanity.

Shane

Marisol,

While I'm sure everyone appreciates your involvement in our discourse, I just wanted to state something to make sure people don't get scared or the wrong idea.

"99% of onchocerciasis (river blindness disease) cases occur in Africa" - "Status of onchocerciasis in APOC countries". World Health Organization. 2008. http://www.who.int/apoc/onchocerciasis/status/en/index.html. Retrieved 2010-04-26.

I'm not doubting this is what you have because of your trip to Central America, rather just letting other people understand that its probably not what they have.

hi guys, here i'm, ok going straight to your problem, just use the dermathological E45 cream in the area you're scratching, you'll feel the change. for those who live in uk, you can find that product in BOOTS.

Hello guys, I've was suffering from this severe itching for the past month. I went to the dr. tried RX meds, antibiotics, ect and nothing worked, the itching was horrible speacially after showering...finally I was recommend by the best Dr. ever (my mom) EURAX cream. Immediately after I started using this the itching disapeared. I washed my sheets, my clothes with hot water and cleaned my room to stop the spread of the bacteria. EURAX cream is OTC and you can find it online, it was actually cheaper and more effective than the RX medicine my dr gave me. Hope this helps.

I wrote on here a couple weeks ago. I have noticed a change in my skin itching with the change in weather recently here. I do notice that in humid weather I still itch, and after I go for a run, when my body temperature is up, I start to itch. I did try the method suggested by others while in the shower... I turn the water temperature way UP, nearly burning myself. I can feel the sensation travel through my body as my skin reacts to the temperature, and it's as if it turns off the itch receptors in my cells. I don't know why, but it definitely helps. I am just glad the fall weather is here, and my itching seems to fade during the fall and winter months.

I've suffered from all over body itch for 10 years now, and only recently I have discovered that homemade natural olive oil and lavender soaps and even lavender body oils help to relieve it or even remove it for that particular shower, high concentrated calendula ointments also help. I have also discovered that when I shower after aplying homemade/bought olive oil it also does not appear. I live in Serbia, and old ladies here still know how to make old fashioned homemade oils and ointments, but I believe that good quality, organic products would have the same effect

For those of us that have this on the back, have you tried getting the hairs waxed off?

Sometimes I can go to bed fine & get a little warm and start to itch, I'm just wondering if it is something to do with my back hairs & if
it is worth the pain of waxing them off ?

Hello,
I am the mother of a 17 year old girl that has the same symptoms that many of you have. I also am glad, I am sorry to say, that I have found other people that suffer from this problem.
My daughter suffers from severe itching on her legs after showering. I feel helpless and wish there was something I could do for her.
Sometimes she scratches her legs with a hairbrush, she hits herself on the legs or puts the hot blow dryer on her legs. She thinks that the pain is better than the itching.
This is the third year now that she has had this problem, (that I can remember). It usually occurs in the fall. Although she has had occasional problems in the spring and summer. I am paying close attention to the circumstances that surround the problem. I would like to share some things that I have noticed, and would appreciate responses from people with similar situations.
First of all the itching usually happens after a shower, however, it has on a rare occasion happened without water contact. It also usually occurs in the fall. We live in New York, and this is when it starts to get a little cooler, and it is also a though time for allergy sufferers. (I am wondering if she could be allergic to something and the shower irritates it) She has also had the itching (on occasion) when getting a pedicure. This past summer we went to Yosemite in CA. She was fine until she went into the pool. Again, I though maybe she is allergic to something in the environment (some kind of plant). It was cooler there in the mountains, (could that have had something to do with it?) Last week she went upstate to a retreat and she had a very bad reaction. The temperature was cooler and she was near a wooded area. I wonder what was there that could have made it so much worse. The strange thing is, she has a much worse outcome when showering in the morning. If she showers at night, it is not as bad.
Something else that she has in common with at least one other suffer, is eczema. She has a dry patch on the lower scalp (just about all the the time) that itches.
I have taken her to a few dermatologists. They had no idea what she was going through. They thought it was the soap, laundry detergent, something she ate, but none of those things had changed. I am taking her to an allergist in two weeks. Hopefully she will get some help. Why is it so bad in October? She does not have a rash or any visible problem on her legs. The itching is usually on her legs, but when is it is really bad her arms are also affected.
I am very curious if most of you have this problem year round, or only in certain seasons. For those of you that have it in the summer, where do you live, and what is the temperature there at that time?
God bless all of you that suffer from this problem. I know that I have found some comfort in knowing that may daughter is not alone in this. Hopefully we will have a solution soon.